September 20, 2018

Discussion: Conquering My TBR Pile (And How You Can Too!)

This Weeks Topic:

Conquering My TBR Pile (And How You Can Too!)

Ok, lets all just admit it right now. We all have a crippling TBR pile that is threatening to fall over on us and bury us yes?? Lol. Now lets also admit we have a pretty huge Goodreads TBR's as well. Am I right?? Well today I'm going to show you how I've been working on getting both my physical and Goodreads TBR's under control (if that's even possible). 

The Physical TBR:

So I fully admit to the fact I have A LOT of unread books on my shelf. Absolutely no denying and it would be pointless to try. BUT... It's not as bad as it used to be guys. I've really been working on controlling it. So how am I managing that physical TBR??? 

I'm actually trying to read the books I own. My unread books used to outnumber my read books on my shelf easily 2 to 1, maybe even 3 to 1, but now I'm back on even ground, or pretty close to. Here's how I've done it. 

How I've Managed My Physical TBR (And Books I Own In General):

• Picking Something From My Shelves Each Month - A long timer is best. Ok guys, I'm a mood reader. I read whatever I'm in the mood for. For the past few months, I've picked at least 2 books that I own and have been sitting on my shelves for months/years and put them in my TBR for that month that fits with my mood. So far it's worked. I actually read 6 books from my shelf in July and 9 in August. That's 15 books over 2 months that had been sitting on my shelf for over a year finally read! Even if you only do this with one book a month, your still reading something from your shelf, not that you just bought! It really does help.
• Participating in Readalongs/Readathons - Guys, I've knocked a few books of my TBR by participating in Readalongs. Fun fact. A lot of the time, if theres a new book in a series about to come out, you can usually find a readalong for the previous books. And if not, host one yourself and get people to join you! Your not the only one needing to read that book! I've done this with a few now and it's helping get my books read! Also, readathons. Like Bout of Books. I use readathons as a great excuse to pick up a book or two from my shelves. With readathons I usually like to read a book or two sitting on the shelves, and a ARC or two. It's a great way to manage both! 
• Not Buying As Many Books - Obvious right. So half my book buys now are actually books I've already read (library or eARC/ARC) that I want for my collection. So I'm not actually buying half as many brand new books as I used to and that helps. Less new books means less books to tempt me over my old books sitting on my shelf. 
• Getting Rid of Books - So I recently got a new bookshelf, and with it, I've purged a number of books. If I had a book I never read and still don't plan on reading, I got rid of it. Same with if I came across a book I have read but know I'll never reread ever again. I also just got rid of books/series I didn't like and don't plan to finish. I seriously got rid of like 20-30 books doing this. My shelves have more room and I removed some books from the TBR that I won't read. 
• Get Behind The Idea Mentally - Honestly, the biggest thing preventing you from reading all the books you've owned for a while now is yourself. If you put it into your head that you want to start reading them, you'll start to actually read them. 

Now Onto the Goodreads TBR:

It's not as bad as it could be actually. It used to be a lot worse.

Let me give you a glimpse of my Goodreads right now:

My current Want-To-Read aka TBR is at 590 on Goodreads right now give or take a few books I might not have marked yet (like sequels to books I've recently finished or something like that. So let me level with you. At the beginning of the year my TBR on Goodreads was much closer to 800-900. How did I manage to get it down to 590?? Well. Let me tell you about it.

How To Manage That Pesky Every Growing Goodreads TBR:

• GO THROUGH IT - That's all caps for a reason. We click Want-To-Read on a whim and then never go back to look at some books. We've all done this, don't deny it. We also change our tastes, lose interest in some book, etc. What I do, is every few months I'll go back through my Want-To-Read shelf and remove books I no longer have an interest in or can't even remember why I put it on there in the first place. This is the big one. I removed over 200 books the first time I did this. There's also a meme you can participate in that focuses on this very thing called Down The TBR Hole! 
• EDIT - This is another big one. I've notice multiple books on my Want-To-Read shelf that I have indeed actually read. But because I read/reviewed a different format/edition, Goodreads doesn't realize it. So you have to go in there and get the editions switched so it realizes it's been read or you just remove it from you Want-To-Read since it's marked already on your Read shelf under a different format. 
• Duplicates - So related to point 2, again, Goodreads doesn't realize when you have something on a shelf just in a different format/edition half the time. So you might have marked the same book multiple times because of this. Like you may have added the hardcover at one point then added it again in the kindle edition because Goodreads is a little special and doesn't see that you have that book in general on your shelf already so you add it again when it says you don't. It doesn't do this with all books, but it does it with enough. 
• Stop Clicking Want-To-Read On A Whim!!! - Seriously, start really considering if you want to read that book or if it just sounds good in the moment. I've started doing this and it helps. 

I hope my tips help you work on managing your TBR's! Do you do any other things/have any other ideas on how to manage your TBR?? Let me know in the comments!